Quality of Service
Quality of Service (QoS) allows the adapter to send and receive IEEE 802.3ac tagged frames. 802.3ac tagged
frames include 802.1p priority-tagged frames and 802.1Q VLAN-tagged frames. In order to implement QoS,
the adapter must be connected to a switch that supports and is configured for QoS. Priority-tagged frames
allow programs that deal with real-time events to make the most efficient use of network bandwidth. High
priority packets are processed before lower priority packets.
Tagging is enabled and disabled in Microsoft* Windows* Server* using the "QoS Packet Tagging" field in the
Advanced
tab in Intel® PROSet. For other versions of the Windows operating system, tagging is enabled
using the "Priority/VLAN Tagging" setting on the
Advanced
tab in Intel® PROSet.
Once QoS is enabled in Intel PROSet, you can specify levels of priority based on IEEE 802.1p/802.1Q frame
tagging.
The supported operating systems, including Microsoft* Windows Server*, have a utility for 802.1p packet
prioritization. For more information, see the Windows system help and Microsoft's knowledge base.
NOTE:
The first generation Intel® PRO/1000 Gigabit Server Adapter (PWLA 8490) does not
support QoS frame tagging.
Data Center Bridging
Data Center Bridging (DCB) is a collection of standards-based extensions to classical Ethernet. It provides a
lossless data center transport layer that enables the convergence of LANs and SANs onto a single unified
fabric.
Furthermore, DCB is a configuration Quality of Service implementation in hardware. It uses the VLAN priority
tag (802.1p) to filter traffic. That means that there are 8 different priorities that traffic can be filtered into. It also
enables priority flow control (802.1Qbb) which can limit or eliminate the number of dropped packets during
network stress. Bandwidth can be allocated to each of these priorities, which is enforced at the hardware level
(802.1Qaz).
Adapter firmware implements LLDP and DCBX protocol agents as per 802.1AB and 802.1Qaz respectively.
The firmware based DCBX agent runs in willing mode only and can accept settings from a DCBX capable
peer. Software configuration of DCBX parameters via dcbtool/lldptool are not supported.
NOTE:
On Microsoft Windows, Data Center Bridging (DCB) is only supported on NVM version
4.52 and newer. Older NVM versions must be updated before the adapter is capable of DCB
support in Windows.
Microsoft* Hyper-V* Overview
Microsoft* Hyper-V* makes it possible for one or more operating systems to run simultaneously on the same
physical system as virtual machines. This allows you to consolidate several servers onto one system, even if
they are running different operating systems. Intel® Network Adapters work with, and within, Microsoft
Hyper-V virtual machines with their standard drivers and software.
